Planning for complementary indoor and outdoor learning requires practitioners to consider how they will manage both time and space. They may need to rethink the daily routine and review how space is being used.
Managing time
Children need an extended period of time outdoors to develop their ideas and work in depth. If a whole group goes out for 20 or 30 minutes, the experience tends to be one of letting off steam rather than getting immersed in worthwhile activity. Imagine how frustrating it must be to build an aeroplane only to have no time to play in it.
Ideally, the door to the outside area should be open for most of each session so that children can choose where they wish to learn and can link indoor and outdoor experiences. If this is not possible, practitioners should extend children's time outdoors during at least some sessions each week.
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